Asics Gel Dedicate 8 review

As a highly affordable shoe, the ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 makes for a solid option for beginner/occasional players who:

• want a cheap tennis shoe that has all of the essentials
• prefer a highly breathable pair
• need decent support for arches and ankles

Needless to say, the Dedicate 8 has to compromise durability to make such a cheap shoe. Even if you play tennis once a week, we foresee a pretty quick breakdown of this ASICS shoe, especially in the upper.

There is a good chance that you can catch a deal on one of the more expensive tennis shoes such as the ASICS Gel Challenger 14 or the ASICS Gel Resolution 9. Even if that means spending £10-£20 more than you expected to pay, the difference in your tennis shoe's lifespan will be significant.

It may be a cheap shoe, but the Dediacte 8 comes with a very generous slab of cushioning foam. Measuring its stack height in the heel, our calliper showed 28.6 mm. This is just as much as we see in many tennis shoes.

We can say for sure that impact protection is not lacking in this ASICS tennis shoe.

As for the forefoot, we measured its thickness at 18.4 mm. This is slightly lower than average but is ideal for manoeuvring and adjusting the feet.

Having a slightly elevated heel for impact protection and a lower forefoot for ground control is the most optimal setup for a tennis shoe. Thus, the 10.2 mm heel-to-toe drop of the ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 felt right at home to us.

Being a very affordable tennis shoe, the Dedicate 8 uses a basic, single-density foam from the heel to the toes. The shoe's name suggests the presence of a soft GEL cushioning unit but having cut the shoe in half, we couldn't see it anywhere! Did ASICS lie about it? Is it hidden somewhere else in the midsole?

That's a real mystery to us but either way, even if it's present, it would be too small to make any difference to cushioning.

As for the primary (EVA?) foam, we found that it doesn't have any standout bounciness to it but offers decent impact protection for going full force.

Measuring the foam's softness with a durometer, we got 30.0 HA which is just about the same as the average across tennis shoes. The best way to describe it is moderately firm.

It helped us feel pretty stable and grounded on the court.

Making sure you have enough buffer underneath the foot, the shoe comes with a decently thick insole. Our calliper shows that it is 5.2 mm thick.

If you have wide feet, we urge you to get the shoe's wide version without hesitation. The ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 turned out to be a pretty snug shoe for our medium-width feet.

Measuring the widest part of the shoe's forefoot, our calliper showed 99.3 mm which is below the average range of tennis shoes.

What's more, the shoe's toebox gets more pointy towards the toes compared to other tennis shoe options. At the big toe mark, our calliper showed a width of only 75.2 mm.

But for players with narrow-to-medium feet, we think that the ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 will provide a very secure foot containment.

Even at this price point, ASICS managed to pack sufficient stability into the Dedicate 8. The brand's TRUSSTIC support system wraps around the midfoot holding our feet pretty firmly in place.

Lateral stability test: ASICS Gel Dedicate 8

Sure, it's not as supportive as the more expensive ASICS Gel Challenger 14 but it is more than enough for a beginner player who is still developing their playing style.

Lateral stability test: ASICS Gel Challenger 14

It may not be as advanced as ASICS' DYNAWALL support system but the presence of the TRUSSTIC system gave the Gel Dedicate 8 a good amount of torsional rigidity.

Twisting the shoe in our manual test, we rated its stiffness high a pretty high score - 4 out of 5. It is pretty good at controlling excessive ankle movements.

One place where the ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 could use more support is the heel counter. Giving it a squeeze-and-push test, we rated its stiffness as only 3 out of 5. It is not as structured and reinforced as in the Challenger 14 or in the Resolution 9 (duh!).

On the court, we could feel the discrepancy between the shoe's stable platform and the less supportive upper.

The base of the ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 is not a particularly wide one. There is a rather subtle flange on the lateral side of the forefoot but it's not as pronounced as in the more stability-oriented tennis shoes.

Using a calliper, we measured its widest area at 108.8 mm. It is only slightly narrower than average though.

The widest part of the shoe's heel turned out to be not so wide either. According to our calliper, it comes in at 86.1 mm, about 3 mm narrower than average.

Sure it's not very wide but as a beginner, you wouldn't need the widest flanges until you develop a very forceful and dynamic footwork.

The shoe's TRUSSTIC support system takes up a fairly small part of the shoe's midsole. This leaves space for the Dedicate 8 to flex pretty effortlessly in the forefoot.

It makes you feel more in control of the foot as you change directions or make small foot adjustments on the court.

To figure out exactly how flexible this ASICS shoe is, we used a force gauge to measure how much force it takes to bend it to a 90-degree angle. The tool returned a reading of 26.6N which is 15% less than it takes an average tennis shoe.

This makes the Gel Dedicate 8 a fairly flexible option.

One thing that you can't take away from the ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 is its amazing lightness on the foot.

It doesn't have the same technologies as the more expensive shoes but that's what helps to keep the weight of this ASICS shoe down.

Tipping the scale at 11.3 oz (319g) in a men's US size 9, the Gel Dedicate 8 is lighter than 90% of our lab-tested tennis shoes!

One of the shoe's key benefits that stood out immediately on the court was its breathable upper. Such a rarity for tennis shoes, it kept our feet feeling pleasantly refreshed throughout the entire playtest.

Back in the lab, our experience was confirmed by a controlled breathability test. Using a smoke-pumping machine, we filled the shoe's upper with smoke and observed the way it escaped through the material.

We were excited to see that the smoke was coming out very fast and even oozed through the shoe's toebox! That rarely happens among reinforced tennis shoes. Happy with the result, we rated this ASICS shoe's breathability with nearly the highest score - 4 out of 5!

Putting a source of light behind the half-cut upper of the Gel Dedicate 8, we can clearly see the transparency of its toebox material. That helps to explain enhanced ventilation in that area.

We took a closer look at this textile through our microscope.

Compared to other mesh tennis shoes in our lab, the largely porous chainlinks of this ASICS shoe help to refresh the interiors like no other material.

But you can't just enjoy the benefits of a thin, open-mesh material without facing its dark side. In the case of the Gel Dedicate 8, it's the utter lack of abrasion resistance that comes with it...

To test the shoe's upper durability, we use a Dremel with a sandpaper tip. Pressing it against the same spot, we apply the exact same pressure (3.2N) and speed (5K RPM) to all tested shoes.

We are sorry to report but the ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 failed to withstand the Dremel and after 12 seconds, it showed a large see-through hole in the toebox.

We obviously cannot expect an £80 shoe to have a durable inner lining either. So we weren't very surprised with the fact that our Dremel tore it apart within only 4 seconds.

On a 1-5 scale, where 5 is the most durable, we gave the Dedicate 8 a low score of 2.

But there is some good news too. The shoe's rubber outsole turned out to be not so awfully frail.

First of all, it's a pretty hard compound and our experience shows that harder rubbers tend to have a longer and happier life span.

Based on our durometer measurements, it comes in at 86.0 HC which is on par with the most expensive tennis shoes in our lab.

To mimic the abrasion of many hours on the court, we turned to our trusted Dremel and set the speed up to the relentless 10K RPM.

Holding its sandpaper tip against the shoe's outsole at consistent pressure (3.2N) for 22 seconds, we were pleasantly surprised. The dent that occurred was shallower than a millimetre (0.8 mm to be precise)! Sure, it is slightly deeper than average but we believe it's a fantastic result for a shoe in this price range.

ASICS didn't skimp on the thickness of that outsole rubber either. As our calliper shows, there is a whole 4.2 mm of material there! Same as in any proper hard-court tennis shoe.

The traction pattern on the ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 is nearly identical to the ones we've seen on the Challenger 14 and the Resolution 9.

A mix of deeper and shallower treads, sharp herringbone lugs, and smooth pivot points creates a nice balance of grip and give on the court.

Even though we didn't experience the same surefootedness as in the more expensive models, we can confirm that the shoe's outsole has a good enough performance for beginner players.

The Dedicate 8 is a real pillow for the feet! From the collar to the tongue, ASICS did not skimp on padding when designing the upper of this shoe.

Using a calliper, we measured the shoe's tongue padding at 10.0 mm which is more generous than average.

Tongue gussets are a prerogative of more expensive tennis shoes so we weren't disappointed with their absence in the Gel Dedicate 8. Luckily, the shoe's tongue is wide and padded enough to prevent the annoying side-to-side shifting.

The brand skipped adding any kind of pull tabs or finger loops to the back of the Dedicate 8.

If you want to make the ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 feel less like a budget shoe, there is an option to add your own insert or orthotics. The shoe's stock insole is easily removable.